And then it hits
by rossinellis
Summary: As a child, Alfred always dreamed of joining the Scouting Legion. One day, his life is torn apart when Titans strike again. Soon after, he and his brother quickly find themselves training to be soldiers. Will Alfred avenge the deaths of his parents? Why did the Titans strike again? And who exactly is Arthur Kirkland? Full cast, featuring vague hints of pairings. Rated T for safety.
1. Chapter 1: That day

**AN: Hello! This is my first proper series I've published, so this is going to be a wild ride. I wrote this and a lot of other SNK x APH ficlets last year when I was deep within the Attack on Titan fandom. Since then, I've left it because I didn't really think the plot was progressing but I've always been fascinated with the universe itself. The plot had an interesting concept, and naturally I couldn't help imagining the APH crew in it.**

 **The story is in America's point of view and I use human names throughout. If I use any fanon human names, I'll tell you who's who in an author's note, don't worry! There aren't any real pairings in it, as far as I remember, but if you squint you might be able to see subtle hints of slightly more than platonic feelings between characters.**

 **All I have to ask is that you bare with me if there's not enough dialogue at the moment - I'm learning. I'll take any criticism because I want to improve as an author.**

* * *

From the early moments in my childhood to this very day, I can safely say there has never been an end to my misfortune. Looking back to when I was growing up, my brother Matthew had always been there to back me up and to save my ass when I was really in trouble. But the day the wall came down was the end of him doing all the work for me; it was my turn to make a stand, my turn to make a difference and my turn to _kill them all_.

It was purely by luck that we even survived that terrible day, if it weren't for that boat we would surely be dead. We were pulled onto it along with the other soon-to-be refugees who would be sent straight to Wall Rose. I couldn't help but feel guilt for every single one of the people who had died when the Titans broke the wall. None of them deserved to die, and I intended to find whoever was responsible and make them pay for their crimes against humanity.

As soon as we arrived in Wall Rose, we both knew life wouldn't be easy. The people who already lived there didn't want us to be alive, since we would be using much of their food and water when we could have just as easily died back there when 'it' happened. We were not welcome at all. If we wanted to be respected (which I can assure you did not ever happen), we would have to work for it. So all refugees who could work did, and they worked for long hours in the fields. My brother and I were considered well enough to be sent out there, and so we did.

I couldn't help but feel lonely when I arrived at Wall Rose. No one knew me. No one _wanted_ to know me. I only had Mattie to keep me sane. No mom. No dad. No home.

I didn't belong anywhere. The place where I was living was foreign to me, and I didn't want to stay there when I was greeted by the glares of the locals who had no intention on paying more taxes so I could live. I couldn't tell what Mattie was feeling most of the time. He just worked quietly beside me, not drawing any attention to himself; he only carried a mournful look on his face whenever I cast my gaze towards him.

He must have been getting over the disaster by himself, and I couldn't have helped him. It was his choice how he coped, not mine. It hurt to see him hiding his pain from me; it was mainly knowing that he was hiding something from me that hurt, but also that he preferred to cope alone instead of me supporting him.

I kept my own secret from him. When I got chance, I had all intentions on training to be in the army. Of course, Mattie knew my crazy dreams from the times I spent wittering on about them when I was little. But now I had seen wrong. I had seen exactly what I wanted to change. If anything, the Titan attack only strengthened my desire to join the army. And once I had trained to be a soldier, I intended to join the Scouting Legion. Mattie had previously said he would support me, but I didn't bring it up in any conversations with him for at least a year. He was unsurprisingly shocked that I was still as determined as I was when I was little.

However, he said he would remain by my side because he too wished to make a difference on humanity. That statement of his warmed up my cold heart. And so, we left our refugee lives of labouring all day to become soldiers and inspire the youth.


	2. Chapter 2: Enlistment

On the first day, I found myself standing alongside trembling teenagers, terrified of becoming soldiers and not knowing why they were here. Mattie stood by my right side and by my left was a young man, shorter than me by just a few inches perhaps, with scruffy blonde hair and emerald green eyes. His face held the expression poker players would yearn to perfect and yet he looked as if he had seen the dead raised before his own eyes.

He wasn't the only person who held this look of horror in his eyes. As I glanced around, many people were looking into the dust beneath with a very familiar look of fear, and others had icy glares that could only have been caused by living inside Wall Maria on the day.

Walking through our ranks was Keith Shadis, order commander of the Scouting Legion who would train us to become soldiers. If he saw anyone of interest, he would turn to them and question their reason for being here. But he didn't turn to me once, nor did he for Mattie or the poker-faced lad next to me. It confused me at the time but now I mention it, he didn't speak to any of those who I previously mentioned as holding those ever so icy glares. No ex-citizens of Wall Maria were questioned. I guess he thought we didn't need anymore hassle.

He stopped at a young-looking girl with blonde hair cut into a short bob and warm blue eyes. She was short and petite, and looked up when she saw Keith stop in front of her.

"Who the hell are you?" he asked, glaring at her.

"My name is Lili Zwingli!" she said with a sweet smile.

"Don't smile just yet, you little shit! Where the hell are you from?"

She dropped her smile, but kept a positive look on her face.

"I'm from the Karanese District, sir."

"What are exactly you here for?"

"I'm here to kill titans, of course, but also to make a difference in humanity. I've always wanted to stand out from the crowd and the only way that is possible in this world is to learn to fight and to learn it good."

I noted that she looked optimistic at this point, almost as if she intended to train from square one with no past experiences. Keith picked up on this as well, unfortunately for her.

"If you honestly think that you will make any difference on humanity, join the fifth line over there," he signalled, walking on without giving her a second look.

She looked around her and strolled to the fifth line, breathing a well-earned sigh of relief. Keith wandered along the lines of prospective soldiers, interrogating those who interested him. Many cracked and left without heir heads hanging low, others joined the ranks hesitantly. Not a single person wasn't intimidated by his questions. Even when he turned to the glaring young woman with stunning looks (in my opinion), she was left digging for the correct words to use.

"Who exactly are you?"

"I am Natalya Arlovskaya and I am from the Trost District."

Her accent was unfamiliar to me, and it scared the living daylights out of me. Keith wasn't affected at all. In fact, he smirked at her.

"Ivan and Katya's little sister, eh?" She nodded. "You should note that I do not fast-track those who are related to great soldiers."

"I didn't expect you to. That would show a sign of weakness, which I have noted you are not in the slightest."

"You thought," he started harshly. "I would be weak?"

"I considered it as a possibility," she muttered.

"Get into the second line and do not say another word," he said, turning away.

She nodded and joined the line. That moment would become a rare sight, seeing her humbly obeying someone with no arguments. Several other soldiers filed into their lines, leaving just those who didn't need to prove themselves. We were all signalled to join the lines without any further strain. That was the day we started training to be soldiers for real.

* * *

 **AN: I used Keith Shadis still for this scene, but he's the only actual SNK character (other than the Titans) in this.**

 **"My name is Lili Zwingli!": Lili Zwingli is Liechtenstein's human name. I'm always torn between calling her that or Erika Vogel, but since she is actually related to Switzerland in this I think sticking with his surname works better. Also I feel Lili goes better with his surname.**

 **"Ivan and Katya's little sister, eh?": Katya, short for Katyusha, is Ukraine's human name. Her full name is Katyusha Braginskaya.**


	3. Chapter 3: Vladimir and Gilbert

**AN: Thank you for the positivity on my first two chapters! Honestly didn't expect it since I thought the crossover category was rarely visited. I've definitely gotten more reads than on Tumblr *sigh*. Many thanks for the follows/faves and the review from Death by Nosebleed. I don't tend to get reviews or any fic traffic, so thank you so much!**

 **Ahh, this took me a little longer than the last two chapters to fix just because I had to search for some tips on how to introduce characters. What can I say, past me wasn't great at introducing new characters.** **This chapter is two mashed into one as well, because the first part is far too short to put up alone.**

 **Notes about characters etc. are at the bottom of the chapter!**

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A few weeks into our training and we were all starting to get along with each other. I had made myself a few friends, and realised who I should keep a distance from. Others had done the same, so it seemed, apart from the odd few.

One lad sat alone on his bed, staring at the palm of his hand with concentrating red eyes. His name was Vlad, and he'd kept to himself since becoming a trainee soldier. He didn't seem shy, but even I didn't talk to many people in the first few days after enrolling.

He sat slightly slouched upon the top bunk, wriggling his bare feet as if he had nothing better to do. I wandered over to the bed and looked up to see him.

"What're you doing up there?" I asked him with a gentle smile.

He turned to me, and signalled for me to join him on his bed. I climbed up the ladder and sat facing him.

"Just thinking."

"About what?"

"That day."

His silence suddenly made sense to me. We made eye contact, his solemn look meeting mine of query.

"You were there as well?" He nodded. "What's your story?"

Shifting uncomfortably, he grimaced.

"I lived in a small hunting village on the outer rims of Wall Maria. Every day was the same: wake up at dawn, hunt, bring in the prey, give it to the women to prepare for food, hunt again, have it prepared again, eat, sleep. It was rather repetitive, especially when that is all you do for the first nine years of your life. That day was no different except I went to hunt with two people my age from nearby hunting villages. They weren't really my friends, but they were the closest thing I'd had to one.

We went out and heard a loud banging noise. Naturally, we thought it was just an animal. But the noise grew gradually louder. That wasn't any kind of animal. It wasn't prey waiting for us to kill it. We were the prey. As soon as we saw the Titan we ran and ran. I swear it followed us into Shiganshina. We got to one of the refugee ships and were taken aboard because we were more than a little beaten up from our Titan escape. I had to start a new life because of that day. I feel guilty for all those who lost their lives."

"Why do you feel guilty?" I asked him, puzzled. "It wasn't your fault."

He sighed, and I thought I heard him mutter something. I wish I'd heard whatever he said.

"What?" I asked.

"No, no. Never mind."

* * *

Days turned into weeks, and weeks turned into months. Those who were not strong enough to be soldiers had been eradicated by that point. I guess I could argue that some of those who were left who eventually _did_ become soldiers weren't exactly strong enough to cope either, or so it seemed. Back when we were training, they were even _worse_. Those who showed strength back then are much more stronger now. I guess it proves that your attitude in earlier life is still relevant once you've grown up.

About five months into our training, the jokers of the group were starting to appear. In a sense, they were great to make us all feel good when we were going through the more stressful parts of training, but they sure as hell could be annoying.

One of these jokers was Gilbert Beilschmidt. I respected him as I grew up as a strong man and fighter, but he could definitely be an asshole when he tried.

The centre of Gilbert's torment was Roderich Edelstein, a complete contrast to him. Roderich was quiet and thoughtful, more of a strategist than fighter. Gilbert was loud and unafraid to speak his mind. No one was surprised that they found many an opportunity to bicker.

"Hey Roderich, do you ever get tired of being a weak idiot?" Gilbert started with a large smirk present on his face.

"Gilbert, do you ever get tired of being a pointless waste of space?" he countered.

"I'm a pointless waste of space? Perhaps you should take a look in the mirror? Oh wait! You spend most of your day doing that!"

Roderich turned away from him, shaking his head.

"You are far too immature for my attention."

Gilbert only laughed. He didn't immediately notice the girl glaring at him across the room. She sat with a few other trainees, who had continued their conversations. She struck me as having natural beauty with her flowing chestnut hair and rosy lips. Her green glare was soon met with a red return from Gilbert, with a small smirk upon his lips.

"Look at your girlfriend, Roderich, and who she can't take her eyes off me," he mocked.

Elizaveta, the 'girlfriend' in his comment, turned away quickly, her face glowing at her cheeks. Roderich gazed over to her, he too blushing slightly, and shook his head.

"She seems to have kept them well away from your common face until now," he replied.

"Common? You don't seem to have noticed that we grew up from the same background. If I am common, then what are you?"

Arguments between the two of them, and whoever else felt compelled to join in, were a regular occurrence during our training days. I tended to keep my head down during such times and let them fight their own battles. After all, I was here to destroy Titans, not to join in with petty arguments. Mattie always stayed by my side, no matter the situation, to keep me sane.

"Sometimes I wish they would shut up just for a week, no, a day."

"Like they'll do that, Matt."

"I have actually considered learning how to sew just so I could sew just so I could sew their mouths shut," he muttered.

"Bit morbid."

"Or I could sever their tongues," Mattie said, miming slicing something with his hands. "Either way would shut them up."

"Ew! Matt!" I laughed.

He returned my comment with a grin.

"You know I wouldn't actually do that, Alfie."

"Yeah, I know. We're as anti-gore as each other."

"Which is what makes us perfect people to join the arm."

"With all the blood and severed bodies out there in the open, I should be absolutely find as a member of the Scouting Legion."

We laughed together about our shared fear of gore. Mattie had always avoided anything vaguely disgusting, and soon I 'caught' his phobia. Seeing everything that happened when the Titans attacked definitely didn't help us overcome it.

Vlad approached us, giving me a smile when we made eye contact. He'd warmed up quite a bit since I first talked to him, making some friends and equally a rivalry with Elizaveta.

"Mind if I join in with your vaguely morbid conversation?" he inquired.

"Sure," Mattie replied. "Take a seat and join in."

He smiled a toothy grin, sitting beside me.

"In all honesty, I'm quite comfortable with being around blood. Not really sure why, maybe because hunting has conditioned me to being used to seeing graphic things."

"You're a little loopy, aren't you?" I asked him, smiling.

"'Loopy'? I don't understand," he asked, with a bewildered look on his face.

"You don't know?" Matthew replied, equally puzzled.

"I'm guessing you learnt what it meant at school. I've never been, and I spent two years after the Wall fell having words explained to me."

"Actually, you probably wouldn't learn that in school. It's slang: too informal for us to be taught."

"Huh. You're going to have to explain to me about 'slang' as well."

"Another lesson for another day, my friend," I told him.

He nodded in understanding. It confused me at the time that someone didn't go to school. Everyone had to go as far as I was aware. I couldn't figure out why he was different. Then I remember years later that he lived in the middle of a forest. There are no schools there. He had no way to be taught, which made me envy him for obvious reasons and also pity him that he had to ask each time someone uttered a word he didn't know.

I noticed as I looked around the room that the boy who stood beside me on our first day with those grim-looking emerald eyes was watching me with interest, as if I were an animal in a cage. His thick eyebrows furrowed as he saw me look at him, and our gazes met. His eyes looked so cold, yet felt so warm. I looked down, trying not to start anything weird from just looking into his eyes. He too looked away, averting his attention to those sat at his table. His eyes held such wisdom and knowledge behind them, and I could feel the pain they had seen. He was not too dissimilar to myself in that way.

Shaking my head, I looked back to my brother and Vlad, giving them a smile. It was at that moment when I felt those eyes staring at me once more. I did not turn, but I smiled at the fact someone was genuinely fascinated about me. It was either that, or he was staring at something on my back. The former seemed more logical to me.

* * *

 **AN: I completely re-wrote the conversation my lad Vlad has with Alfie and Matt because past me used 'fetish' as the word he didn't understand. While the end of the conversation was funnier (Alfred refusing to explain what it was until they went somewhere a little more private), it just seemed like a bit of an awkward moment. I think when I wrote it, I was channelling some of the** **naïvety I had into Vlad. I mean, I was fourteen/fifteen and went around asking people in school about similar words and they all refused to explain to me. Where was Urban Dictionary when I needed it, eh?**

 **"Vlad had light brown hair…": Vlad, short for Vladimir, is Romania's human name. His full name is Vladimir Popescu.**

 **"Elizaveta, the 'girlfriend' in his comment…": Himaruya gave us variations for Hungary's name, and I have chose Elizaveta to use.**


	4. Chapter 4: Arthur Kirkland

**AN: Another big thanks for the positivity for this! I'm coming towards the end of my pre-written content, so there might be some delays in writing/posting past the next chapter (don't quote me on that, it might _not_ be the next chapter). This chapter features just Alfred and his new "buddy" Arthur, just so you can see how different those two nerds are. _Prepare yourselves for some tension_.**

* * *

A year had passed since we began training, and I finally got my chance to find out who exactly was fascinated with everything I did. That day was when we learn hand-to-hand combat. Normally I would have paired up with my brother, but he kindly told me that he intended to test his strength against someone who he a) wasn't related to and b) hadn't had to save from childhood bullies. I accepted his points as he went to join the self-proclaimed "awesome" Gilbert Beilschmidt.

The man who was probably stalking me stood alone, and I carefully wandered over to him.

"Need a partner?" I asked him, smiling.

He shrugged.

"If it is mandatory, then yes."

"Hand-to-hand fighting then. Want to go first?"

I never found out the answer to my question. Without any warning or time to defend myself, he held up his fists and swung the right into my jaw. Swiftly, he kicked me in the shin and stepped back as I crashed backwards onto the ground. My face stung, as did my leg, to which he only responded by holding out his hand for me.

"My name is Arthur Kirkland," he stated, as I took his hand and pulled myself up.

"Alfred F. Jones."

He nodded instead of replying.

"So," I started. "Where did you learn to throw such sweet punches?"

"Where did I learn how to fight?" I nodded. "At my home."

"No no no, I mean, who _taught_ you how to fight?" I said, rephrasing my question.

"My mother."

I nodded in response. We stood in silence for a few moments.

"So how come you've spent a whole year staring at me?"

"I haven't."

"Have too. I saw you. _Multiple times._ " Damn, he was busted.

He tensed slightly, before stepping towards me. Our faces were mere inches apart, and I suddenly felt very uncomfortable.

"You interest me. You have seen much pain and yet you still smile. You act like an idiot when you clearly hold some great intelligence. You are an opposite of yourself. Doesn't that scare you?"

"I don't think you understand. Those things are all part of human nature. Why should I be sad when I can make others happy? Why should I let everyone treat me as if I'm a walking dictionary - full of knowledge yet confusing? Why should I let the world judge who I should be when I can make that choice _for myself?"_

Arthur gave me a very serious look.

"You are far from perfect, do not mistake my words. I believe differently from you, though. I don't understand your sense of free will - you can't do everything the way you want it to be done. If that happened, we would be in chaos."

"Free will isn't part of this."

"You are mistaken. It is every part of this. However, I don't care to continue this conversation. Farewell, Jones."

With that, he strode away. Arthur had started to fascinate me at this point. I wanted to argue with him, but I wanted him to agree with me. He exerted his wisdom in his free will argument with me, and that was what made me want to know more about the mysterious man with emerald eyes who seemed content with staring at me across a room.

Arthur continued to be deeply interested in my behaviour and outlook on life. As my brother began to join the new friends he was making, Arthur would sit beside me in class and work with me in physical tasks.

If I'm honest, he fascinated me in his behaviours. He treated everything either like it was gospel or like it was worthless. It confused me greatly. _He_ confused me greatly.

The strange part of this whole situation was that he was spending more time with me but I never really found out anything important about him. I poured out the details about my childhood, family and the day the Titans attacked while he would just sit and listen. He looked as if he didn't really care about my life, but also seemed like he was mentally taking note of every detail I told him.

All I knew about him was that he was in Wall Maria when the Titans attacked, his mother had raised and educated him and that he didn't think highly of my ambition of joining the Scouting Legion.

"You would willingly leave the Walls on a regular basis to _investigate_ the Titan's territory? That's… crazy. Training as hard as you do, you could live the easy life right in the capital. Why waste your life?"

 _That_ made me angry. I hated the idea of people training their asses off so that then they could graduate in the Top Ten and seize one of those places in the Military Police. I didn't despise those who genuinely wanted to serve the King and do their duty in that way, but those who wanted to live the easy life? I couldn't stand those people.

"How could you say that? There's no way I'd be wasting my life by joining the Scouting Legion! Members of the Scouting Legion fight for important territory back from the Titans, and that job is _even more_ important now we've lost Wall Maria!" I snapped at him. "Rose and Sina are overpopulated as hell because we lost Maria. The Scouting Legion are putting every moment of their lives to purpose. And what are the Military Police doing to stop overpopulation? Arresting people? _We need our land back_."

He didn't respond to my counter-argument. Clearly I'd made my point.


	5. Chapter 5: Capture the Flag (Part 1)

**AN: Thank you for the ongoing positivity! I truly appreciate every favourite/follow/review I get. Sorry I haven't updated for a week or so, college is a bitch and I've had a shit ton of essays to write instead. Also, I wanted to write a brand new scene that wasn't in my original story, and this is what I came up with. This segment of plot will be over a few chapters, I think, so it can flow a bit better. Plus, this chapter's twice as long as the other ones ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ On with the story then?**

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During my last few months of training, myself and several others started to count down the days until we finally became soldiers. It was partly out of excitement that the past few years had actually meant something, but partly out of fear of responsibility. It's the same as when you leave school, you've got to find a job to do so you can feed your family except instead we had _all_ of humanity to look after.

We were called out onto the training grounds early in the morning by Keith Shadis, who looked like he could really use a few more hours sleep. Once everyone had assembled, he began to speak to us.

"Today you will be taking part in an activity to test your team-working abilities, among other things. Capture the flag," he stated, causing a stir in the trainee soldiers around me at the fact that he was letting us play a game. "You will be randomly placed into either the blue team or red team, then you will hide your flag in the forest, and you will work together to seize the opposite team's flag. You will all carry your 3D Manoeuvre Gear and a piece material bearing your team's colour. If an opponent takes your colour from you, you are out. There will be no weapons involved, because this is all about your teamwork and tactics. Now, you will be put into your teams!"

The group was unanimously excited about the game. Finally, we had been given something fun to do rather than the endless training with weapons, technology and written work. I was very enthusiastic about going out into the forest and playing this game, because teamwork tasks usually were quite entertaining.

Keith walked from person to person, carrying a bucket that had inside small coloured balls for us to pick. He came closer to me and I watched Vlad pick out a red ball. Then my brother put his hand into the bucket and removed a blue ball. He smiled to me as I reached in, feeling the smooth balls in there. I grabbed one, and pulled it out. It was also blue.

"Al, we're on the same team!" Mattie mused, still smiling. I gave him a smile back, because nothing was better than spending time with my brother.

Once everyone had been placed in a team we split into the teams and stood before Keith, waiting for further instructions.

"Right! Now you know who you are working with, but not who will command your actions. I have chosen two people from each team: one two lead, and one to be second-in-command. You will answer to their commands, because as you all know listening to your commander is the route to success.

For the Red Team! Natalya will lead you, because if her siblings are anything to go off she will be level-headed and know how to organise you tactically."

Natalya nodded in acknowledgement. Her older sister, Katyusha Braginskaya, lead the Garrison and her brother Ivan Braginski lead the Scouting Legion. She really had a lot to live up to.

"And the vice leader will be Roderich." There was a murmur in the Red Team. "Because, why not?" Keith said with a scary grin present on his face.

Roderich had not improved as a fighter since the beginning of training, but was still strategically-minded. He was empathetic, so would probably do well in that role.

"Now the Blue Team! Antonio will lead you."

Antonio Fernández Carriedo was a very interesting person. He was slightly older than me, and much better than me in fighting. He was a natural in fighting exercises and his charismatic personality helped him be just as strong in teamwork.

"And your vice leader will be Alfred."

My brother gave me a proud pat on the back. I was a little overwhelmed with the responsibility of being second-in-command. I hadn't really seen myself as the leading type, but I didn't intend to give up my title for the task.

We were dismissed and headed out into opposite sides of the forest with our leaders carrying our flag. I was a little concerned about our chances of winning purely because the Red Team had Natalya leading them and several of our other strongest fighters with her. Without being rude, we had more of the weaker trainees who often made me question how they hadn't been kicked out (or dropped out) earlier. Namely, the Vargas twins.

Feliciano and Lovino Vargas were complete opposites of each other, yet equally as hopeless. Feliciano was a bright and bubbly character, often distracted by the smallest things; Lovino was much more of an introverted character, who was often cold and blunt when people did speak to him. He _did_ have a better attention span than his brother, but both of them were spooked by the smallest of things.

"So are we going to win or not?" shouted Gilbert to our team.

"We're not going to win if you keep shouting when we're hiding our flag," Vash snapped at him.

Vash Zwingli was equally as cold, blunt and introverted as Lovino but surpassed him in everything. Vash was one of our strongest fighters in our ranks and excelled in written tasks also. His sister, Lili, was also on our team.

"My brother's right: we've got to keep quiet until we've hidden the flag," she said.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Am I being too loud for you?" Gilbert said dryly.

"Yes." Elizaveta responded immediately. "And don't even tell me your question was rhetorical because I actually couldn't care less about you."

"Wooooow. As soon as Rod leaves, she gets all aggressive! I like my girls to fight back," he grinned.

She lunged for him but was grabbed by Emil, who was stood next to her.

"He's not worth the effort, Eliza," he muttered.

Emil was very quiet, but a valuable soldier. He also had a lot of pressure on him to succeed like Natalya, as his older brother Lukas Bondevik was a very high-ranking member of the Scouting Legion.

Eliza sighed and Emil let go of her. We continued to walk deeper into the forest with Antonio leading us.

"We need to work together, as a team. We can't fight each other right now!" he exclaimed.

"Can you honestly blame me for wanting to punch him?" Eliza replied.

"'Him' has a name!" Gilbert shouted.

"None of us do. But right now we _need_ to forget any disagreements between us if we want to win," said Antonio cheerily.

"Who cares about winning?" muttered Lovino.

"We're treating this like it's a game," I said. "It's not. Well I mean, Capture the Flag _is_ a game, but it's part of our training too! It's to test how we work together in a team. Anyone can play this game and tell the team to split up in an attempt to win, but you're more likely to be taken out that way.

Strategically, we have to work with at least one other person to find their flag. We all have our own individual talents, and working with someone else means you can rely on their talents too. Like, Eliza, you're a strong fighter but you might work with someone who's more strategic, like Lovino, and you'd be an unstoppable team. It all applies when we become soldiers, so we _have_ to treat this seriously."

There was silence for a few moments after my speech.

"Al's right. We may be playing a game, but the skills we're learning here will come in when we become soldiers. So just ease up a little for the sake of our graduation ranks," Matt added.

We walked for a little longer before Antonio stopped, looked around and planted the flag into the ground. The area he'd chosen had tall and twisting trees around it so would be difficult to see from a distance.

"With my vice leader's words in mind, we're going to leave four people here to guard it. You'll stay up in the trees so you can see if anyone's coming near it and so you can't be seen." He glanced at his team. "I want Lovino, Feliciano, Emil and Gilbert to stay here. As Alfred said, we need people with different talents to work together so we can be more effective. Lovino and Emil are strategists, Feliciano is our team worker and Gilbert has quick reactions. You four will work together well."

The four looked at each other before firing their 3DMG hooks at the trees and going within the leaves to wait.

"Now the rest of us need to split up. I don't think you should stay with me, Al. Having our leaders in separate teams would benefit us, I think. We'll mix this up a little: Vash and Raivis, Jan and Lili, me and Matt, Al and Eliza. Let's work with people we don't normally work with, eh?"

Working with Eliza was definitely going to be interesting. I'd seen her fighting before, but never actually seen _how_ she does it. I thought it would have been good to learn her technique before graduation.

"Let's go then!" Antonio commanded, and we walked in separate directions.

Eliza led the way, pushing away stray branches that would have inconvenienced us. She remained quiet, which seemed a little strange after hearing her snapping at Gilbert on the way into the forest.

Once we'd walked for a good few minutes I asked her, "So why does Gil always wind you up?" She sighed audibly.

"Because he's learnt that I get annoyed at his jokes so he thinks it's funny to continue bugging me."

"Yeah, but why did he start in the first place?"

"He was from my town. I didn't really know him, but he used to make vaguely sexist remarks at me whenever he saw me doing something he considered to be a man's job."

"I'm not sure I follow."

"My house is on the edge of a forest that's full of game. Me and my father often went hunting for food together because it was much cheaper than buying it."

"Did Gil hurt there too?"

"Sometimes. He used to play on the edge of the forest. Lots of kids did, because their parents always told them that there were animals deep within the forest that would eat them if they went inside. My dad told me that Gil grew up surrounded by men, no mother around, so he didn't really understand women. I still don't think he does."

"You're from Wall Rose, right?"

"Born and bred. And you were from Wall Maria, weren't you?"

"Sadly, yes."

"Can I ask, what are the Titans like? Are they like the stories tell them? Or are they just like us?"

"The stories make them out to be fantastical monsters that look much scarier than they are. You don't realise how scary Titans are until you see what they can do. I saw the Wall torn apart in one blow and all the smaller Titans dash in, crushing everything in their path. They have no humanity, and just eat anything they find desirable. I know all kids are taught that in school, but it's so much scarier seeing people being torn apart, people you know too!"

"Did you… lose anyone?"

"My mother. Watched a Titan crush her and eat her."

"Shit. You know, you're right. You hear all the stories but don't really consider that it's all true. I can't even imagine that happening to the people I love, but you've seen it happen to all those people. And you were so young!"

I heard a noise in the distance, so I threw my arm in front of her to stop her walking.

"What?" she asked.

"I think there's someone near us," I whispered.

She nodded in response, and we walked slowly and quietly onwards. Surely enough, we watched Bella Morgens run straight past us, not even noticing us. Eliza responded quickly, dashing after her and I followed. Bella glanced behind her and saw us. She tried to speed up, but Eliza was faster and reached for the red cloth hanging loosely from her belt, pulling it out swiftly. Bella must have realised because she stopped dead in her tracks and turned around to us, sighing.

"Damn, didn't think there was anyone nearby."

Bella was a charismatic person, very friendly and a team worker. She was the kind of person you wanted to be friends with. Eliza _was._

"You ran straight past us, you dummy," she teased, waving the red cloth at Bella. "Fancy telling us where you're flag is?"

"Not a chance. I'm not even sure I remember where Nat hid it."

"Evidently, somewhere in that direction," I said, pointing to where she had ran from.

"Come on, Al. It's more than 'evidently' in that direction. You came the opposite direction from me, so it clearly is that way."

"Alright, alright. Don't patronise me," I joked, before me and Eliza continued walking in the direction the flag 'clearly' was. Eliza gave Bella a little salute before following.

* * *

 **AN: I used a random name picker for the teams, so none of this is intentional. Also, my dad picked a number corresponding with the names so I could have the leaders and vice leaders, so again I didn't intend Al to be vice but it fell quite nicely.**

 **Just the human name haul now:**

 **"Vash Zwingli was equally as cold...": I prefer using Vash for Switzerland's first name instead of Basch, because it's easier to say and looks better.**

 **"but was grabbed by Emil...": My boy Iceland! Emil Steilsson is the human name I use (and I think a majority of the fans do?)**

 **"his older brother Lukas Bondevik...": Norway's human name. I think this is the most popular fan name for him? I've been calling him that for so long now it's not like I'm going to change it.**

 **"Jan and Lili": I've discussed Lili already, but Jan is Netherlands. Jan Morgens is his full name, which links to...**

 **"we watched Bella Morgens run straight past us": Bella Morgens is Belgium, Jan/Netherlands' sister.**

 **That's all the names out of the way, but I should also note that I do shorten the longer names because it's not like every time anyone is referring to Hungary they're going to call her Elizaveta. I originally called her Liz/Lizzy, but it's too** **Anglicised to fit her, so Eliza stuck. Gil is Gilbert, Al/Alfie is Alfred, Rod is Roderich, Vlad is Vladimir and Nat is Natalya. I think that's all of the names I've referred to so far?**


	6. Chapter 6: Bella's Journal (Part 1)

**AN: I feel like I've been neglecting this, sorry! I've been stuck in a small writer's block for a little bit, and I'm struggling with the Capture the Flag sub-storyline. College has just been leaving me exhausted, so I haven't had much chance to write new content. So this is going to (hopefully) become a regular occurrence: passages young Bella Morgens (Belgium) has written about her experiences and thoughts. Depending on how far I get in this story, hopefully some of the things she mentions will make sense eventually.**

* * *

Sometimes, I wonder if I made the right choice. Joining the army was never more than an unrealistic dream until the Wall fell. I'm still not sure I want to be a soldier. Do I really want to give my life to a land that belittled my existence, giving young girls such as myself no choice as to how to live their lives? I don't entirely blame the government for the decisions of a small village so far from their reach, but their lack of interest in settlements like my hometown has meant for years that women have been robbed of a good future. I might even live a longer life in the army, as funny as that might sound.

I hope what I am doing will make my brother proud. He's always sacrificed the nice things in his life so that I can be happier. He thinks I don't know that he puts me before himself. He thinks I don't know a lot about his life, but I do. His life and his secrets, one day I hope he can tell me everything so once again we can stand together as siblings. My brother tells me that one day I will be great, and I will bring honour to our family. I really hope this will become true.

I've spent a lot of my spare time reading so that I can catch up on the years of education I missed. It's alright for some, having parents educated enough to teach them how to read and write. I don't envy them, though. I learnt how to look after myself and those close to me, and I learnt how to run a home. Most of the people training with me to become soldiers are little more than children, even after the two years we've been here. They don't know what the real world is like. Their parents have made sure they don't know about how cruel this world is. They are treated like infants, causing panic and confusion when they are left to deal with a situation themselves.

Wall Maria's fall has been a great benefit to many of these children, who have been forced to mature and understand the responsibility needed to look after their friends and the remains of their family. Only those children should have had to lose family. Yet here I am, holding the memory of my parents and my younger brother while standing at my older brother's side.

I don't deserve that pain. Have I not been through enough?

Jan tells me that on the day glory will fall upon us, the pain will stop. I often worry that these vague claims of his will never happen...


End file.
